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STI updates are blog posts from the BCCDC or our community partners about a variety of sexual health topics. These include program updates, clinical practice changes, new research, events, and more. We will not clutter your inbox with frequent emails, and your email address will not be used for any other purposes.
December 21, 2016 by Jason Wong, Physician Epidemiologist, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC
This is the dashboard report on STI and HIV trends in BC for the third quarter of 2016 (July – September). These reports are posted quarterly to provide a snapshot of HIV and sexually transmitted infections in British Columbia. The dashboard below describes the number of HIV and STI cases reported to public health in…
November 1, 2016 by Justin Sorge, Laboratory Surveillance and Outbreak Coordinator, BCCDC Public Health Laboratory
Background In British Columbia (BC), there has been a steady increase in reported gonococcal (GC) infections since 1998. Most notably, there was a 70% increase in GC infections in 2015 (3,160 cases) compared with 2014 (1,803 cases). In 2015, the increase was observed among both males and females (Figure 1), in all age groups, and…
August 30, 2016 by Jason Wong, Physician Epidemiologist, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC
2016 vs 2015 In the first half of 2016, there were 396 cases of infectious syphilis (i.e. primary, secondary, and early latent) reported. This is about 25% higher than year-to-date last year. However, if this trend continues, we estimate there will be 792 cases reported in 2016 – slightly more than the 761 cases reported…
August 22, 2016 by Jason Wong, Physician Epidemiologist, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC
This is the dashboard report on STI and HIV trends for the second quarter of 2016 (April – June). These reports are posted quarterly to provide a snapshot of HIV and sexually transmitted infections in British Columbia. The dashboard below describes the number of HIV and STIs reported to public health in the second quarter…
August 3, 2016 by Margot Kuo, Epidemiologist, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC
Introduction n BC, at least 50,000 people are currently living with active hepatitis C (HCV) infection.[1,2] Left untreated, individuals with HCV have 5 times higher risk of dying from any cause and 20 times higher risk of dying from liver-related causes than uninfected persons.[3] Newer, well-tolerated drugs (direct acting antivirals) have improved treatment success with…
June 7, 2016 by Jason Wong, Physician Epidemiologist, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC
Background Prevalence and incidence are measures of disease frequency that are used to inform our response to the HIV epidemic. Prevalence is the total number of people living with HIV in an area in a year, while incidence is the number of new infections that occur in an area over a year. New HIV diagnoses…
May 26, 2016 by Jason Wong, Physician Epidemiologist, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC
New for 2016, the Clinical Prevention Services surveillance team has developed “dashboard” reports on the status of sexually transmitted infections and HIV trends in British Columbia. These reports will be posted quarterly in the STI Updates blog to provide a snapshot of HIV and STIs in BC. The dashboard below describes the number of HIV…
December 31, 2015 by Jason Wong, Physician Epidemiologist, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC, and the Clinical Prevention Services Surveillance Team
HIV In 2014, the rate of new HIV diagnoses in British Columbia was 5.6 (261 cases) per 100,000 population, a slight decrease from 5.8 (267 cases) in 2013. Demographic groups The highest rates of new HIV diagnoses were in Vancouver Coastal and Northern Health Authorities. Males continued to have higher rates of new HIV diagnoses…
by Jason Wong, Physician Epidemiologist, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC, and the Clinical Prevention Services Surveillance Team
Genital Chlamydia In 2014, the rate of genital chlamydia increased to 288.4 per 100,000 population, continuing the overall provincial trend of a steady increase since 1998. The highest rates were in Vancouver, Northwest and Northeast Health Service Delivery Areas. Females continued to have higher rates of genital chlamydia infection than males. The highest rates were…
June 30, 2015 by Jason Wong, Physician Epidemiologist, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC; and, Linda Hoang, Medical Microbiologist, Laboratory Services, BCCDC; and, Troy Grennan, Medical Head, STI Clinic, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC; and, Carolyn Montgomery, Physician Sessional, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC; and, Sylvia Makaroff, Physician Sessional, Clinical Prevention Services; BCCDC
Background Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) is a sexually transmitted infection caused by Chlamydia trachomatis serovars L1, L2 and L3. Though LGV was first reported in BC in 2004, there has been a significant increase in the number of reported LGV cases since late 2010, particularly among HIV-positive gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with…